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“Merry Christmas!” Andrew Milhone said as he lugged a bundle of green into Katherine Harper’s apartment.
“You bought a tree already?” Kat planted her hands on her hips. “You were supposed to call me to help pick one out.”
“I know, but when I drove by the lot earlier the pickings were getting slim. I wasn’t sure there would be any left by the time you got off work.”
Kat’s jaw dropped open. “Christmas is still two days away, and they’re already almost sold out?”
“What can I say, some people plan ahead better than you do.”
Kat stuck her tongue out at him.
Andrew adjusted his hold on the trunk. “So where do you want this thing? It’s starting to get heavy.”
Kat pointed to the space she had cleared next to the living room window. “You can put it over there.”
Andrew eyed her. “Some help would be nice.”
Matty and Tom, Kat’s two cats, evidently thought that was their cue to offer assistance. They both wandered over, turning into a black, brown, and yellow blur as they weaved between Kat’s and Andrew’s legs in an attempt to get close to the tree.
“You’re going to get stepped on,” Kat warned them.
The animals weren’t concerned, too enraptured by this new addition to their home. Kat accommodated them by shuffling her feet as she made her way across the living room with her end of the tree.
“Tip your side up,” Andrew instructed.
Kat did. When she’d raised the tree top as high as she could, Andrew took over, grabbing hold of the side and securing the base of the trunk to the stand. He verified it was steady, then pulled out a pocket knife to snip the twine wrapped around the branches. Matty and Tom watched in awe as the tree unfolded into its full, glorious splendor.
“There!” Andrew brushed his sandy hair away from his eyes. “It fits perfectly.”
The burst of joy that seized Kat then took her by surprise. “I never thought I’d ever be looking forward to celebrating Christmas.”
Tom didn’t waste any time moving in to inspect the pine needles within reach. Matty sat off to the side, her gray-striped tail swishing across the carpet. She stared up at the tree, then crouched low to the ground before springing toward one of the branches. Tom stopped what he was doing to watch as the yellow-and-brown tortoiseshell pulled herself into the tree, her hind feet scrabbling to find a good foothold.
Kat laughed. “I can tell you right now, with Matty and Tom here this Christmas is shaping up to be the best one I’ve had in all of my thirty-two years.”
Andrew slung his arm around Kat’s shoulders and kissed her cheek. “I know this will be my best Christmas ever. I have you.”
Kat leaned into him, his words making her giddy.
He chuckled. “Look at us getting into the holiday spirit. Remember when we were a couple of kids grumbling about Christmas while everybody else at school couldn’t wait to see what kind of loot they were going to be getting?”
“It was different for us. We were in foster care. Christmas isn’t much fun when you’re sitting around with somebody else’s family, opening up generic gifts picked up at the last minute so you don’t feel left out. I can’t tell you how many times Santa brought me a pair of cheap socks patterned in some kind of reindeer theme.”
Kat smiled as Tom swatted at Matty, who was shielded by the branches surrounding her. Matty retaliated by taking a swing at his head. Neither cat made contact, but it was clear they were having a grand time trying.
“They’re so cute,” Kat said. “I bought some baubles, but now I’m not sure we shouldn’t leave the tree as it is. The cats can enjoy it more this way.”
Andrew squeezed her shoulder. “It’s your tree. You can do whatever you want.”
She wrapped her arms around his waist as she rotated toward him. “Thank you for buying it and bringing it over. How much do I owe you?”
He kissed her nose. “Consider it to be a gift.”
“We agreed not to exchange gifts.”
“Then consider it to be on loan. You can give it back to me after your mom leaves town.”
The reminder that Maybelle Harper was currently on her way to Cherry Hills, Washington sent a flurry of butterflies erupting in Kat’s stomach. “I’m nervous about meeting her. What if we don’t get along?”
Andrew smirked. “Then you’ll be just like every other family.”
“I’m serious, Andrew.” Kat stepped away from him and flopped onto the couch. “I haven’t seen her in twenty-some-odd years. What if we have nothing in common?” What if she doesn’t like me? was what Kat was really thinking.
Andrew sat down beside her. “You’ve been talking on the phone, haven’t you?”
“We hold five-minute conversations about the weather and how our jobs are going every other week. We don’t talk about anything important.”
Andrew paused, then said, “Have you told her about me?”
“No,” Kat admitted.
“Huh.”
Kat could see the disappointment in his eyes, and it twisted her heart. “It’s not because I don’t want my mother to know we’re dating or anything. But when we’re on the phone we end up chatting about mundane stuff.”
“You’ve told her about the cats though.”
“Yes.” Realizing he might think that meant she valued Matty and Tom more than him, she added, “But that’s only because she’s staying with me for three days. I had to know if she was allergic.”
She held her breath, hoping Andrew didn’t call her on the lie. The truth was, she often filled her mother in on Matty and Tom’s antics just to have something to talk about. Plus, hearing about the cats always made Maybelle laugh.
But if Andrew could tell she was fibbing he didn’t let on. “What time is she getting here?” he asked.
“It’s a five-hour drive from Estacada, so any minute now.”
“Would you like me to leave?”
“What?” Kat sat up. “You mean because my mother’s coming?”
“If you don’t want her to meet me—”
“No.” She laid her hand on his wrist. “It’s not like that at all. I’d love for you to be here when she shows up.”
Andrew relaxed, a smile breaking out on his face. The sight of his twin dimples sent guilt swirling in Kat’s stomach. She hadn’t confessed the real reason why she wanted him here, and it wasn’t so she could introduce him to her mother as one would a serious boyfriend. It was so he could act as a buffer if things didn’t go well between them.
“I don’t even know what to call her,” Kat said. “She was Maybelle Harper when she lived here. Then there was all that business about her having to flee town and hide out, and now she goes by Kelly Watson.”
“You don’t call her Mom?”
She shook her head. Although she thought of Maybelle as her mother, ‘Mom’ suggested a level of familiarity that wasn’t there. Maybelle had barely been around during Kat’s childhood, and, until recently, she had been completely absent from her adulthood.
“I’ll just go with Maybelle,” she decided. “That’s how I think of her anyway.”
The buzzer rang, and Kat’s stomach flip-flopped. Maybelle Harper had arrived.
* * *
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Books in the Cozy Cat Caper Mystery series:
Book 1: Murder in Cherry Hills
Book 2: Framed in Cherry Hills
Book 3: Poisoned in Cherry Hills
Book 4: Vanished in Cherry Hills
Book 5: Shot in Cherry Hills
Book 6: Strangled in Cherry Hills
Book 7: Halloween in Cherry Hills
Book 8: Stabbed in Cherry Hills
Book 9: Thanksgiving in Cherry Hills
Book 10: Frozen in Cherry Hills
Book 11: Hit & Run in Cherry Hills
Book 12: Christmas in Cherry Hills
